Indonesian football is in shock and mourning over the loss of a young player. A bitter and shocking incident that is strangely similar to the tragedy of the death of Jesus de Miguel, the 30-year-old striker of Tenerife in Spanish football.
Yardan Akhsani Taqwa, the 14-year-old striker of the Selman Timur team, who had violently collided with the opponent’s goalkeeper in a match of the Indonesian under-14 league, finally died on November 11 after fighting death in the hospital for 11 days. This happened a few days after the death of Jesus De Miguel due to a collision with Jesus Ueno, the goalkeeper of Andorra, and the people of Indonesia say that they cannot believe that the same thing happened again in their country, that too for a 14-year-old teenager. Indonesian football says that the world of football should think about the problem of serious collisions on the field, and of course the need for the immediate presence of medical personnel on football fields should become a global demand.
Details of the fatal collision and transport of the injured with a private car
This incident happened on October 31, in the match between the teams of Salman Timur and Kepek Raya in the Yogyakarta region under 14-year-old league. Yardan, who was trying to take possession of the ball in the forward position, had a strong collision with the opponent’s goalkeeper, and the opponent’s goalkeeper’s knee hit him directly in the upper abdomen. The young footballer immediately fell on the ground.
What has angered Indonesian football fans is the lack of medical and relief facilities at the venue of the match. Pramosetio, president of the Salman Timur club, said that the organizers of this competition had not deployed any doctors, rescue equipment, stretchers or ambulances in the stadium, and the club members had to take the injured player to the hospital by private car.
11-day efforts of doctors and the reaction of the head of the federation
After the initial examinations at Hermina Hospital, the doctors transferred Yardan to Dr. Sardjito Central Hospital for more specialized examinations, and there it was found that the injury caused severe bleeding in the liver of this teenager. During his 11-day stay in the intensive care unit, Yardan underwent three major surgeries and received more than 70 units of blood, but in the end his thin body could not bear it and he died.
The head of the club, Salman Timur, stressed that the opponent’s goalkeeper’s collision was completely unintentional and a natural reaction to throw the ball away, criticizing the extreme weakness of supervision and the lack of medical facilities in basic matches.
Eric Tuhir, the president of the Indonesian Football Federation, released a message expressing his condolences to Yardan’s family and wrote: “Yardan’s death reminds us all that the health and safety of players should be a priority in every football match. “No race and no victory is more valuable than human life.”
Indonesian football is mourning this young footballer who just yesterday the disciplinary committee of the Spanish Football Federation issued a 12-game ban for Jesus Uono because of his fatal collision with Jesus de Miguel. Two tragic incidents on both sides of the world that took the lives of two footballers.
Indonesian media have the right to complain about the lack of the smallest medical and relief facilities in this match. They are also right that the consecutive repetition of the same incident in two football matches, one in Spain and the other in Indonesia, should lead the football community to think of a solution to violent collisions that cause the death of players.
